Would You Rather...?

Following my previous post on Ralph Lauren Home's current antique-inspired RLH Collection I received an email from my friend Bonny of Bonny Neiman Antiques in Summit, New Jersey with a photo of this beautiful, 19th-century step-back cupboard,

It is a near twin to the RLH Jelly Cupboard, inspired by a circa 1850 design from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, pictured below.

It raised the question...if you are considering the purchase of high-end furniture, would it be wiser to invest in antiques ? (As an aside, Bonny mentioned the authentic antique cupboard lists on her website for a fraction of the RLH reproduction cupboard's suggested retail price.)

Let's make a few more comparisons and play Would You Rather...?, the adult version. (The adolescent version of the game, inevitably played during the last hour of a long car trip, being trying to determine the less awful of two revolting alternatives.)

From Cupboards and Roses in Sheffield, Massachusetts, one of a pair of Swedish rococo-style armchairs, circa 1900.

The RLH 18th-century Swedish-inspired design:

From Sugar Barrel Antiques in Vancouver, a solid oak, Scottish gateleg table, circa 1910.

The RLH mid 18th-century-style pine table:

From Architectural Anarchy in Chicago, a circa 1940 hand-painted wood and metal bucket.

The RLH reproduction Dutch colonial tea stove:

From Tone on Tone, a French painted end table with cabriole legs, circa 1900 to 1920.

The RLH late-18th-century-style table with cabriole legs.

Also from Tone on Tone, a Swedish Klismos-style painted chair, circa 1890-1920.

The RLH Neoclassic dining chair inspired by a design from the early 19th-century.

From Columbus Architectural Salvage in Columbus, Ohio, a large, vintage turned-wood architectural finial, and from Charles Spada Antiques in Boston, an early-20th-century French triangular-shaped sculptors pedestal.

The RLH covered urn and four-legged sculptor's pedestal.

From Epoca in San Francisco, a carved English Georgian-style ivory painted and parcel-gilt circular mirror circa 1860.

The RLH bull's-eye mirror inspired by a mid-19th-century French design:

The only piece from the previous post that I left out was the upholstered frame sofa. That is something I would likely buy new. And of the pieces here, with one exception, I would chose the antique in every instance.